Tag Archives: illustration

[TRIUMPHS IN TECH] RMS TITANIC POSTER HITS ZAZZLEBY: D.M. ANDERSON

For many of those who know me, Titanic, has been a life-long passion of mine. The elegance of the ship, the technological and engineering marvel of her design, and the promise she brought humanity. That is until a series of small careless mistakes brought it all to a close. It is a tragic story: The hopes of humanity all rested on a single ship. A ship that sank and took over 1,400 lives with it. We all know the story.

The illustration as printed.

It seems fitting, then, that Titanic make her way into my TRIUMPHS IN TECHNOLOGY poster series. Even thought she sank, Titanic will always remain a technological marvel that is ambitious even by today’s standards. She was much larger than any other ship in the world (aside her sister RMS Olympic), she utilized a unique hybrid propulsion system, featured improved building measures (higher water-tight bulkheads, double-bottom hull), and featured many first-time amenities many passengers feel commonplace aboard today’s passenger vessels.

When visiting my Zazzle store, you can choose how you best wish your copy of the poster to be produced: from size, to paper type (canvas, too!), framed or not. That is the beauty of Zazzle – you can buy the art work you love the way you want it. Please check out the product page via the link below. This would make an excellent holiday gift for any Titanic, ship, or ocean liner enthusiast.

Via Flickr:
As part of a design challenge, I was to design an entirely new logo than the one currently in use. This was to be a challenge in concept, color, and overall execution. Here are the results.

“In the future there will be a world with no flags,” proclaimed Schmidt, played by actor Hugo Weaving, as he tried to hold off imminent defeat. As some of you can already figure out, I recently watched Captain America: The First Avenger, the much anticipated film release from Marvel Studios. I will admit that I had a lot of skepticism about the quality of this film while going to see it. I worried it was going to be yet another corny, poorly executed action film that would that would lack the quality needed to be taken seriously, let alone be enjoyable. What did eventually bring me to see the “Captain America” was part of its promotional campaign: posters designed in the style of propaganda posters from the early World War II era – the period in which the film is set.

This clever use of the design style was a brilliant marketing strategy: it used effective graphic design which was also relevant to the film (see below for examples). This enabled the production of effective visual communication pieces that not only got the message of the film out, but it was part of the user experience that allowed the viewer to quickly get a sense of the world they would be stepping into with the film. This approach is far more clever than those typically employed with film promotion posters. These designs were not seen in theaters (as far as I saw) but circulated around the web. It is also to be said that not all films can use this strategy – or can they? I can recall several films who attempted this approach, such as Wall-E, but did it half-heartedly or gave it so little public exposure it was ineffective. (Examples). An example of a film that used this strategy and did it well? Cars 2 (posters by artist Eric Tan).

At the end of the film also came another surprised relating to this promotional strategy. No, it was not the teaser at the end of the credits. The surprise was actually the credits themselves. To continue the user experience and tie the promotional material more strongly into the film (not to keep design geeks in their seats) the film producers used 3D rendering, animation, and depth effects on classic American propaganda posters from the World War II period and tied them in with the credit typography. Bravo, Marvel, bravo!

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So what makes propaganda posters so great in the first place? Simply put, a majority of posters from the World War II are some of the most effective examples of visual communications in existence. (Okay, a close tie to classic Swiss graphic design). As one of the best users of propaganda, Adolf Hitler said, “By the skillful and sustained use of propaganda, one can make a people see even heaven as hell or an extremely wretched life as paradise.” And these pieces achieve just that. See some brilliant examples below.

As the first poster demonstrates. There is a very clear and clever use of both the typographic and graphic elements of the design: the color choices are high contrast, the illustration and type provide an easy flow throughout the piece, and the copy is written very clearly however leaves room for to sometimes carry deeper meanings than initially found at first glance. The second poster “(2)”, which is from the same series, follows all of these design principles and takes it further by playing with the type for the word “England” and putting it onto an active graphic element within the composition thus better tying the copy, the graphic elements, and the meanings together in a more visual, yet stronger way.

(2) World War 2 Propoganda poster "Careless Talk"

What these posters are doing is what every piece of advertising you see everyday attempts to accomplish: a clear message, a well executed image, and something clever for the mind to latch on to and thus increase the retention of the message. Think about it, does a lot of the advertisements you see achieve this? Sadly, no. The execution of many pieces seen today is ruined by artists adding fluff (effects, too many graphic elements, etc.) to the visuals and as minimal copy as possible.

The visuals here are well executed, and often well detailed, but were done so with great care given to the delivery of the message. Follow the illustration of the arm in the next image – it provides a very clear direction for the eye to travel. Even down to the vain in the hand plays a part in moving the eye through the image and connects it to other details in the composition that can be used to move the eye from the top left corner of the poster to the bottom right. Even the details play a role in achieving a successful execution all the while adding great visual detail. See below for even more great posters that demonstrate these concepts.

To conclude this all together – referring to classic print design pays off. The execution of the propaganda style promotional poster, which both fit the time and style in which the film was set, brought a skeptical consumer and converted them into a paying consumer. Which means someone’s marketing dollars were well spent. I hope more designers take notice of this strategy, and the artists who do it brilliantly, and move in this direction. It helps start the customer experience far before stepping into the venue. However, when doing it, look at the classics and understand why they are just that. Step away from pretty details that don’t contribute to the experience of the end product. Remember, the promotional poster is to drive the user experience of the product in which it is promoting, it is not to drive it’s own unique consumer experience. And to those who are curious – yes, I enjoyed Captain America. Go see it!

This video was posted by a contact on LinkedIn. It sparked an interesting conversation. The poster, Nancy, posed the following question:“Do you like this animation/video presentation about Choice, Capitalism and Social Change from the RSA? Can it go viral do you think?”

To it I responded:

“I think this is a very powerful video, and it is presented in a very fun way. I have seen other videos in this series where the narration was from different speakers, but the animation process was executed in the same style.

What is said in this video is quite true about where humanity finds itself today. I know for a fact when I am given an overwhelming amount of choice I do tend to freeze as well and through time I will pull myself out of it. This is often accomplished through communicating with others as well as conducting my own research.

As designers and business people in an age of customization, it is bound that we will face this indecisive state more and more both as professionals and as consumers. I was recently discussing with some friends that I feel certain fields of the design industry are becoming too nebulous – too accommodating to individual semantics just so the industry could acquire professionals to fill jobs. IE. The web marketing arena offers many titles (Graphic Designer, Web Designer, Interface Designer, Interactive Designer, Design Consultant, Design Strategist, Digital Artist, . . . .) when most, not all, most of these jobs do the same functions or overlap enough to cause massive redundancy in the capability to meet the scope of work needing to be completed.”

The first in the ‘Triumphs in Technology’ poster series, featuring the Pennsylvania Railroad T-1 steam engine, received an invite from the Flickr group, 30’s “ART DECO period”. This is exciting news as it appears some of my work is starting to make a mark in the art community.

To see the original piece, go to my Flickr page! Also, please subscribe to this blog and add me as a contact on Flickr! Thanks.